Ashbrook 63, North Gaston 44 — The second-seeded Green Wave absorbed the seventh-seeded Wildcats’ best shot and then ended the game on a 24-6 run to survive Monday's Big South 3A Conference quarterfinal and advance into Wednesday’s semifinals.

“I don’t know if that’s as good as his kids can play, but I tell you what, they brought it on us and they gave us everything we could handle,” Ashbrook coach Chad Duncan said.

Grant Stafford (22 points, eight rebounds, three steals), Antonio Blalock (14 points, four assists) and Alex Linder (eight points, 10 rebounds, three steals) led Ashbrook (17-7), which will face Crest in Wednesday’s 6 p.m. semifinal at Hunter Huss. The game will be the rubber match for those teams, who each beat the other on the road during the regular season. Crest won 56-53 before Ashbrook ran away with the rematch, 75-52.

North Gaston had lost to Ashbrook by 17 and 34 points during the regular season but stayed in this game behind a defense that limited the Green Wave’s perimeter scoring.

The Wildcats tied the game at 35 late in the third quarter on Corey Staley’s layup. Staley converted another layup on the first possession of the fourth quarter to draw North Gaston within one at 39-38 before Ashbrook made its run.

“Give them credit. Their defense forced some turnovers that turned into easy baskets late,” North Gaston coach David Handsel said. “I think we just wore down a bit. I couldn’t be more proud of our team. We played about as good as we can play for three quarters.”

Daquan Mintz scored 19 and Deon McCree added nine points for North Gaston, which ended its season at 7-17 and missed the state playoffs for the fifth straight season. The game ended the high school careers for seven North Gaston seniors.